Larry Coldiron, RIP

I had a couple of posts ready for uploading this morning
when I found out the Administrator of our Policy and Planning
Division (which our office comes under) passed away of leukemia
yesterday.

I worked closely with Larry Coldiron during this past
legislative session on the Judicial Salary Commission and got
to know him pretty well.

Larry was the kind of Administrator who trusted the people
who worked under him. He would hand assignments to me and would
let me do them the way I felt was best. That’s not to say he
wouldn’t check on how things were going or always have a
back-up plan ready to go, but in the end, when reviewing what
you had done, he would very rarely make changes to your
recommendations because he felt you were now the expert on the
subject and knew best what to recommend.

Larry was a retired officer from, I believe, the Air Force.
He never discussed his military service but I believe it shaped
who he became. Organization, a clear chain of command, and
responsibility for your actions were the watch words of his
life. Conversely, he would give credit to those under him
before allowing anyone to give him any praise for the good work
of his division.

Larry was also a Christian. When I went to visit him in the
hospital during his first bout with leukemia he had a Bible by
his side and a framed picture of the Lord on the counter of his
room. But what was most important, he had the love of Christ in
his heart.

Larry had been fighting his cancer for several years. At
first, it appeared the treatments had worked but the disease
came back stronger than the first time. Larry fought as hard as
he could but in the end, he didn’t make it.

A better, braver person person you could not find. He will
be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and
friends.